Southeast Asia Research Group

Reconstructing Southeast Asia’s Dynamic Earth

News

We are delighted to have re-launched the SEARG website after a 3-year hiatus

Amy Gough attended the Second Post Cruise Meeting for IODP405 ‘JTRACK’ in Sendai, Japan.

Max Webb attended a workshop held at the Lorentz Center in Leiden on ‘Merging Biology and Geology to Study Island Biodiversity’

Isbram Ginanjar Hikmy attended the Essential Scientific Computing for Environmental Scientists course run by the Edinburgh Parallel Computing Center

Basin Research

Please consider submitting to our Basin Research Special Issue: Source-to-Sink Systems in Asia and Oceania: Insights from Multi-Proxy Approaches across Geological Timescales. Deadline 31st December 2026

Research

We have SEARG Wiki’s available for the following areas:

Banda Arc, Borneo, Java, Peninsula Malaysia, Sulawesi, Seram, Sumatra, Thailand, West Papua, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines, Sorong Fault Zone, Regional Topics

Plate Tectonics, Sediment Provenance Analysis, Thermochronology, Carbonates, Tomography, Geochemistry, Heat Flow

Southeast Asia Research Group (SEARG) explores the tectonic and sedimentary evolution of one of the most geologically complex regions on Earth. Our research focuses on Eastern Indonesia and Sundaland, with ongoing projects in Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi, and West Papua.

These regions sit at the junction of multiple tectonic plates and record a dynamic history of subduction, volcanism, terrane collision, and basin development. By studying these natural laboratories, we investigate how landscapes, sediment systems, and tectonic processes interact to shape the Earth’s surface and subsurface.

Our work combines field geology, sedimentology, provenance analysis, mineral geochemistry, and data science to trace sediments from their source regions through river systems and into sedimentary basins. Using these approaches, we reconstruct ancient landscapes and sediment routing systems, revealing how Southeast Asia evolved through time.

SEARG aims to bridge tectonics, surface processes, and basin evolution, providing new insights into regional geology and improving understanding of sedimentary systems relevant to natural resources, geohazards, and the energy transition.